Bernie Sanders Campaigns in San Diego County, Urging Young People to Vote at Rally to Support Mike Levin, Other Candidates

Sen. Bernie Sanders praised California for embracing the progressive ideals he championed in 2016 in places much like the college campus where he campaigned Friday for more than a dozen Southern California candidates.

“Three years ago, $15 minimum wage and a union seemed like a radical idea. Today, it is spreading right here in California,” he said at MiraCosta College in Northern San Diego County. “Thank you, California.”

The independent Vermont senator’s appearance was part of a nine-state campaign-style swing that extends his 2016 presidential bid and catapults him toward an expected reprise run in 2020. Though he fell short in 2016, Sanders gave prominence to several issues — income inequality, universal healthcare, student debt — that continue to resonate in this year’s election.

Sanders recalled his 2016 campaign and mentioned another politician who tends to reminisce about past elections, calling President Trump “a pathological liar.” “He says one thing today and something very different tomorrow.”